Obstacles linked to drop in abortions

By Jeremy Roebuck AUSTIN BUREAU

Updated 11:08 pm, Wednesday, March 6, 2013

AUSTIN — Texas clinics have performed 10 percent to 15 percent fewer abortions since the state enacted strict requirements two years ago for women seeking the procedure, preliminary findings of a new study indicate.

But researchers said Wednesday that shift appears to stem more from obstacles created by the 2011 laws — including a 24-hour waiting period and mandatory ultrasounds — than from women changing their minds because of them.

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The study — conducted by researchers at Ibis, the University of Texas and the University of Alabama at Birmingham — was based on data collected from the state's three largest abortion clinic systems, as well as surveys of more than 27 individual clinics and 300 women from across the state.

And though Grossman emphasized the final results won't be published until later this year, the preliminary findings offer the first glimpse of how the state's tougher abortion requirements have affected the prevalence of the procedure.

“There has been an overall decline nationally in abortions,” Grossman said. “But this appears to be more pronounced.”

According to the study, women had to wait on average 3.7 days between their initial consultations with a doctor and their abortions — nearly four times the period required by law — because of difficulties with clinic scheduling.

For the two doctor visits, they traveled an average of 84 miles round-trip and typically incurred additional costs of about $146 for travel expenses, child care and lost wages, the research suggests.

And despite the waiting period, 89 percent said they were as sure about their choice to have an abortion before their initial consultation as they were after, the study found.

The 24-hour waiting period was just one in a series of tighter abortion provisions passed by lawmakers in 2011.

The Republican-controlled House also cut funding to family planning that year, and it overwhelmingly voted to require doctors to explain the possible medical consequences of abortion as well as provide women seeking the procedure with an audio recording of the fetal heartbeat.

Advocates for the laws argued that they would allow women to make better-informed decisions about whether or not to have an abortion.

“As a woman and a physician, I would be concerned about any nonemergency procedure where the patient doesn't ever meet or have a prior relationship with their doctor,” state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, said Wednesday.

But abortion-rights advocates described the measures as misguided attempts to control women's reproductive rights.

Kicking off this year's legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry has pledged to back efforts that would further impede abortion availability.

“The ideal world is one without abortion,” he told a Capitol crowd in January. “Until then, we will continue to pass laws to ensure that they are rare as possible.”

So far, multiple bills have been filed that would further restrict access to abortions, including one that would shorten the window in which a woman could receive an abortion to 20 weeks after conception.

“These measures have nothing to do with the wellbeing of women and everything to do with their manipulation,” said state Rep. Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, chairwoman of the Texas Womens' Health Caucus.

Farrar intends to introduce a bill that would end the 24-hour waiting period but conceded its chances of passing were slim.

“I'm not expecting a miracle to happen,” she said. “But if we walk away from what happened in the last session, everyone will think that this is OK.”

And at San Antonio's three Planned Parenthood clinics, such a change would be welcome, policy director Patricia Rodriguez said. While the number of abortions performed there has increased slightly since 2011, the laws have put undue stress on clients, she said.

“If you live in Cotulla and have to miss a whole day of work to come in for a visit, you now have to come in twice and miss two whole days,” she said. “It just becomes more of a burden.”